Trump Vs. Obama's Firing Rates As President Is Wild

The Trump administration has had a rocky start, and it doesn't appear to be improving. With what feels like weekly staff shakeups plaguing the administration, it begs the question of who will be left by winter vacation.

Thus far, by our count, President Donald Trump has already fired more people than Barack Obama did in his eight years in office. To be clear, the firing count is including only high-profile, unusual cases, not typical turnover that happens during a presidential switch. Let's begin at the beginning of Trump's administration, to make sure we're not missing anyone:

Sally Yates And Michael Flynn

Two weeks went by before another changeup. On Feb. 13, then-National Security Advisor Michael Flynn resigned after it was discovered that he appeared to have misled the administration about his contacts with Russian officials regarding sanctions.

Preet Bharara

The following month, U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara was fired after refusing to quit, The New York Times reported. (He was one of 46 other attorneys appointed by former President Barack Obama who got the boot, but we're not including them in the tally because it's been argued that this turnover is somewhat routine.)

Reince Priebus And Anthony Scaramucci

The West Wing had little chance to catch is breath before the firing fairy struck again. On July 31, just 10 days after appointing him White House Communications Director, Trump fired Scaramucci.

This isn't even as far back as the drama goes. In November 2016, Gov. Chris Christie was pushed out in his role on Trump's transition team. This tally also doesn't include routine turnover that a new administration normally executes upon taking office.

As of Aug. 4, the tally comes to six firings and five resignations of major roles on Team Trump.

Los Angeles Times on YouTube

Let's compare this tally to President Obama, whose administration also had some turnover.

In all, it appears that Obama fired only a few people, ABC and RollCall report. This doesn't include another dozen or more employees who resigned, stepped down, or were forced to resign, CNN reported. And taken alongside those of Trump's presidency, all of these staff changes happened over comparatively routine reasons.

Firings were pretty rare in Obama's administration, with just four major firings in his two terms.